by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh, made my hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who were sometimes were far off or made nigh by the blood of
Christ. For he is our peace who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in the ordinances. for to make
in himself of the two of them, of the twain, one new man, so
making peace that he might reconcile, that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off unto
them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you're
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. May the Lord bless the reading
of his word. Let's sing 272, The Solid Rock. Maybe some of you don't even
need to get the songbook out for this. 272, The Solid Rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness fails his lovely
face I rest on his unchanging grace In every high and stormy
gale My anchor holds within the veil On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Turn back a few pages to 258,
please. 258, he hideth my soul. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. and covers me there with his
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, he taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. With numberless blessings each
moment He crowns, And filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, For such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. and covers me there with his
hand. When clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. ? And covers me there with his
hand ? Be looking at the second chapter
of the book of Hebrews this evening. Hebrews 2. The apostle writes, therefore,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation? Which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders and
with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
his own will. For unto the angels hath he not
put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak, but one
in a certain place testified, saying, what is man that thou
art mindful of him? For the son of man that thou
visitest him, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels,
thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now
we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering
of death crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man, for every son. For it became him, for whom are
all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, Through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he
himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that
are tempted. Our Father, we come before you
in thanksgiving this evening, thankful for all the daily mercies
that you show us. They're innumerable, more than
we can number. We thank you for your care for
us, loving kindness toward us in our daily walk in this world.
And we thank you especially for bringing us here this evening.
What a privilege we enjoy that we might gather here in this
building and hear the beauties and the glories of our Savior
lifted up, that he might be exalted. So we give thanks for gatherings
here, give thanks for the desire to be here, And we do ask, Father,
that even as Joseph opened the storehouses of grain to the people
that he was in charge of, that you might open the storehouses
of your grace and feed us this evening from them. Give us the
ability to hear that which is preached, and may our pastor
be given that word that we need this evening. May he lift up
Christ and give him glory in salvation of sinners. Give us
the hearing ear and the seeing eye that we need. Give us an
understanding. Enlighten the eyes of our understanding
this evening and edify us. Teach us of Christ that we might
go on our way this coming week rejoicing in Him. Our Father,
we do ask for those under trial. We ask for those who have lost
loved ones. that we've just heard about,
that you be with them and comfort them in this time of loss and
grief. Be with those, especially thinking of our brother Russell,
that you would be pleased to strengthen and heal him, return
him to us, and we might worship together again. Lord, there be
many out there that we don't know of who are under different
kinds of trials. Be with your people in trials.
We know that you bring these trials upon us for a purpose. teach us and to wean us from
this world and to draw us ever closer to Thee. So give us a
spirit of rejoicing even in the time of trial and as we walk
through the valley. For we know, Lord, that someday
we shall be with Thee on the mountaintop. Father, we ask for
the ministry that goes forth in this place, that You'd make
it effectual to the hearers, that Your Word would go forth
and accomplish that which You've sent it to do. And may you heap
great glory to yourself in the salvation of sinners. We do ask
especially for our children, our grandchildren, friends, family
that don't know your Lord, that don't have any interest, that
you'd be pleased to cross their path with the gospel and that
you'd be pleased to rend their hearts that they might see their
need of Christ and their awful condition without him. And we
do ask this evening, Lord, that you would exalt his great name
and all that's said and done. We ask it for his name's sake.
Amen. life is easy when you're up on
the mountainside and you've got peace of mind that you've never
known but then things change and you're down in the valley Hey, Jack, boy, you're never
alone. For the God of the mountain is
still got in the valley. When things go strong, he'll
make them right. ? And the God of the good times
? ? Is still God in the bad times ? ? God of the day ? ? Is still God in the night ? ?
You talk of faith ? ? You're up on the mountain ? ? When life's at its best ? ? But
it's down in the valley ? ? Of trial and temptation ? ? That's
when faith is ? ? Really put to the test ? ? For the God of
the night ? It's still God in the bad years
When things go wrong He'll make them right And the
God of the good times It's still God in the bad times God of the
day There's still God in the night
God of the day There's still God in the night Thank you, Brother James. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 5
for our message this evening on the subject, The Word of Reconciliation. The Word of Reconciliation. The book of 2 Corinthians chapter
5 I'll begin in verse 18, just
to read two, three verses here. 2 Corinthians 5.18, and all things
are of God. Now, we could stop there and
we could say that is a tremendous statement. In fact,
it could be taken as a very broad statement because all things
everywhere are of God. And it doesn't matter whether
you're talking about all things in creation, they're all of God. He made the
heavens and the earth. Six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth and all that in them is. Everything that moves
and has breath is made by God. Everything that exists, made
by God. All things are of God in creation
and all things are of God in the daily happenings of life. As you said, whether we be on
the mountains or in the valley, All things are of God. All things
are of God in the daytime and all things are of God in the
nighttime. All of those things that we would
say are good things, good times, they are of God. And all the
things that we would incorrectly say are bad times, they are of
God too. And I say incorrectly because
really concerning the people of God, there are no bad times. Because all of our times are
in the hands of God. So all things are of God in the
world, in the universe, in all that He's made. I can rejoice in creation because
this is my Father's world. This is what my God made. I can
see the beauty in it, though indeed corruption and sin has
marred creation, yet there's still a magnificence about it
that shows the grandeur of God. It shows the handiwork of God. All things are of God in creation,
and all things are of God in what we call providence. governs everything. That gives me great cause to
rejoice. Nothing happens that isn't under
God's absolute authority and control. All things are of God
in providence. But I think if you want to take
this, and we should take this in the context, it's really saying
all things are of God in salvation. Because this is the subject,
especially in the last part of 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the
subject is reconciliation. Reconciliation, that is the restoration
of folks like us, sinful people like us, to divine favor. If you want a definition of not only the word atonement,
But reconciliation, that's what it is. It is a restoration, the
Lord bringing us, restoring us to divine favor. We fell out
of divine favor in Adam's fall. We all became sinners. One man, one man, he plunged
all of the race, all of mankind into a state of alienation from
God. Brother Joe read to us back in
the office tonight from Romans chapter 5, and Romans 5, 12 says,
Wherefore, as by one man, you know what end of the world, sin,
end of the world, and death, by sin, and so death passed on
all men. For that all have sinned, or
literally all of us, we sinned in Adam. We fell from God. But God had already ordained
a restoration to his favor of a multitude which no man could
number. This is called the doctrine of
reconciliation. reconciliation, and this is what
the subject is here in the latter part of 2 Corinthians chapter
five, the restoration of the people of God, and he has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, which it goes on to say that
here in verse 18, all things are of God, all things in salvation,
okay, doesn't matter what part about salvation you're talking
about, it's all of God. I had on our, Sign, there's a
verse, salvation is of the Lord. And it is, every bit of it, right? Every facet of it. Doesn't matter
what part of salvation. Salvation's a great big word,
we talked about that a little bit last week. It is a massive
word, it's a glorious word. It's full of the grace of God,
but it is all of God. Salvation's all of God. There's
nowhere in salvation that we have a part, that we have some
contribution that we have to make. Salvation, Jonah said,
is of the Lord, and of the Lord only. David said the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. So all things are of God, and
watch this, who hath reconciled us. God has reconciled us, that
is, God has already restored us to divine favor. All of these
people He gave to Christ Jesus in covenant love and grace and
mercy, referred to as the elect of God, the people of the Lord,
those people Christ came to save. He shall save His people from
their sins. He came to this world to reconcile
those people here is what the apostle, he expresses it this
way, and all things are of God who hath reconciled us, all of
us, unto himself. God did it. He's already done
it. He hath reconciled us. That's a past work. That's looking
back to something that has already happened. Reconciliation. The work of reconciliation, the
work of a restoration of alienated, guilty people back to God, the
restoration of sinful people, has already been accomplished.
And He's given to us, or He has reconciled us unto Himself by
Jesus Christ. That's the way. Well, how did
God repair the breach? How did God answer this age-old
issue of how can God be just and justify the ungodly? How
could this reconciliation ever take place? Well, this is the
way. God has reconciled us by a person. Jesus Christ. And he hath given
to us, is what the apostle says, the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, meaning that is, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath he God has committed unto
us the word of reconciliation. In other words, God has given
us a word to declare. The word, this W-O-R-D, is message. It's the exact same four-letter
word that is used in John chapter one. In the beginning was the
word, the logos, Christ himself. God has given to us this message
of the word. He's given to us this gospel
of his grace. He's committed this message unto
us, Paul says, unto the apostles, unto the preachers, unto the
churches. We have a message, we have a
word to declare. We have a word that it's our
business and our job to get it out. What is that word? It is the word of reconciliation. That is our duty. And that's
what we do every time we get together. We preach Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. You see, God has an issue with
us. And the issue is over our guilt
and over our sinfulness. The justice of God demands we
have to be punished. The justice of God says, death
for sin. Death for sin. The wages of sin. What is it? It's death. It's
death. It's always death. God said to
Adam, in the day you eat of this fruit that I forbid you to eat
of, in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. That is, in dying, you will die. And when Adam ate of the fruit,
he immediately died spiritually. He lost the life of God. Later, he would experience another
kind of death, physical death. Physical death is the result
of spiritual death. It's the result of defying God. And unless God is pleased to
do something for us, there's another kind of death that we'll
have to face, the second death, an everlasting death. That's
everlasting separation from God. But our message, our message
is a word of reconciliation. It's a good word. It's a happy
word. It's a glorious word. It's a
wonderful message because you see, thankfully, God has provided
a sacrifice. A death, a death has already
been experienced. Not the death of a mere man,
but it was the death of a man. It was the death of one who is
more than a man, one who is the God-man. And by that one death,
by that one death, that man, that God-man bearing all the
guilt, all the sinfulness, all the trespasses, all of the iniquities
of all of God's people of all of the ages, and that man's one
death absolutely satisfied the justice of God for everybody
in whose stead he died. That is the gospel message. That is the word of reconciliation. Go over to Romans chapter five. Here we find the apostle Paul
addresses this same issue here in Romans chapter five. He has
some things to say about our guilt and then what God has done
for us. Romans chapter five and verse
six, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. For scarcely, Romans five seven,
or scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man maybe some would even dare to die. But God, God
commendeth, God gave full evidence, God manifested, God manifested
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. Somebody died for us. Somebody
equal with God. Somebody who was forever the
darling of God's heart. The son of God. That one who
has made flesh and dwelt among us. He died for us. And if he died for us, then the
us that he died for are not gonna die. That's the gospel. Now look at verse nine. Much
more than being now justified, justification is a reality right
now, present reality. And I've said this before, and
you've heard other preachers say it before, Bill said it,
Henry said it, I'm sure, we will never be any more justified than
we are right now. We're justified, we're in a state
of justification before God. God, the righteous judge, has
pronounced us righteous in Christ Jesus. And if God has pronounced
us to be righteous, it doesn't matter what anybody else has
to say about us. It doesn't matter what accusations
may be raised against us. If God has justified us, we're
justified once and forever through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word justified is a legal term. It's a legal matter. And
in the court of heaven, where the righteous judge always rules
righteously and always does what is right. He has said of the
people in whose stead Christ died, these are justified. Justified. Now, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. No wrath's
gonna come upon us. No wrath can ever fall upon anybody
in whose stead Christ died. That's an impossibility. Because
God's not gonna punish sin twice. And I've heard all the arguments,
I reckon, on universal redemption. Christ, He offers the blood to
you. Will you accept it or not? Will
you accept His payment or not? I beg your pardon, the blood
was never offered to you. That payment was never offered
to you. It wasn't offered to the devil.
It wasn't offered to anybody else. It's the blood for God.
It's the death for God. And God in His justice is therefore
absolutely satisfied with the death of the Lord Jesus in the
stead of those for whom He died. Now watch this. For if when we
were enemies, boy, that's something to think
about. We were once His enemies. We
were enemies against God. And I'm fully persuaded that
when people say, I've never been the enemy of God, to me that
says the Spirit of God hasn't revealed your depravity to you. He hasn't revealed your ungodliness
to you. Because we're all at enmity,
we're all enmity against God. We have a hostility against God. Romans chapter eight says that.
The natural mind, it has a hostility against God. We're enemies against
God. Not the God of our imagination,
no. We weren't enemies against the
little baby Jesus in a manger. No, we weren't enemies against
that concept of Jesus. But the God who rules, the God
who reigns, the God who will not accept the best that you
can do, the God who demands perfection, the God who says the soul that's
sinning shall die. We were at enmity against that
God. We were hostile against that
God. We were enemies against that
God. We didn't like Him being God. This has always been the
issue anyway. Man wants to be God. Why do you
think people fuss so much about the sovereignty of God? It's
because they don't like absolute authority. But he is absolutely authoritative. And he will do his will. He is
always doing his will in the arms of heaven, on the earth
right here, and under the earth, and in all deep places. God does
His will. If when we were enemies, watch
it, we were reconciled. Reconciled to who? Reconciled
to God. Well, how were we reconciled?
By the death of His Son. Boy, it just lays it out. It
answers all the questions. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life or in His life. And, verse 11, not only so, but
we also, we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Once we
were his enemies, but now we joy in God. We get our joy in
hearing about God, in thinking about God, in worshiping God. This is our joy. This is not
a time of misery for us. This is a time of joy when we
honor our God. Our God who made us. Our God
who sustains us. Our God who created us. Our God
who provides for us. Our God who saved us by His grace. This is a time when we joy in
God. We rejoice in the Lord. We join God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, watch it, by whom we have now received the atonement,
and that's the exact same word for reconciliation. That is, we receive the fact
of it. We receive the truthfulness of
reconciliation. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. You see, this is the gospel. This is the gospel. We don't preach a gospel, we
preach the gospel. Notice here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Look at verse three, for I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received. Well, what did you receive and
what did you deliver? He said the message of how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he
was buried and that he arose again the third day according
to the scriptures. This is the gospel, the gospel. You notice back up in verse one,
he says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
This is an exclusive message. It is an exclusive message. There's
no room for any other message. Any other message is a false
gospel. Any other message is not good
news. That's why in Galatians, the
first chapter, Paul says, if anybody come preaching any other
gospel than the one I preached to you, let him be accursed.
Let him be accursed. This is a very exclusive message,
only one message of truth. Only one message that honors
God. Only one message that meets the
sinner's need. It's not a gospel, it's the gospel. Now, watch this. The gospel, it has to do with
a historic event. A historic event. Here's a retired
history teacher. Got other teachers in the congregation,
some not retired yet. You teach history. Well, history
is that which has already happened. That which has already happened.
If it ain't happened yet, it ain't history yet. It's only
history if it's already happened. Here's the gospel. The gospel
is a historic event. Our declaration is that of a
message of something that has already taken place. It is a
historic event. Remember in 2 Corinthians chapter
5 where we read, God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation
and He's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Whenever you read the writings
of the great apostles, when they speak, when they speak of the
gospel, it is always in the past tense. Go look at 1 Corinthians
1. Let me show you this. Look at
1 Corinthians 1. They talk about it, they refer
to it as that which has already happened. Now, it is good news
right now It is the means God uses for the salvation of poor
sinful people right now, but it's a message of something that
has already taken place. Well, here we are in 1 Corinthians
chapter one. Look at verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified. 1 Corinthians 1.23. But we preach
Christ crucified. Well that's not something out
yonder in the future. And that's not something right
now. Here's the Apostle Paul and he
takes his quill and his parchment and he writes of that which has
already happened. We preach Christ, whoever lives
indeed, to make intercession for us, but we preach Jesus Christ
and what He did back yonder at the cross. It's an accomplished
event. And any time you read the writings
of the apostles and they talk about the death of the Lord Jesus,
they talk about something that's already happened And that's very
important, very important. In other words, a finished work.
A finished work, an accomplished deed, a completed task. The preaching of the gospel is
a declaration of something God has done in the past. Now certainly
it's a message that needs to be delivered today, declared
today. It must be preached today, it must be received today, it
must be believed today in this gospel of what already happened
many years ago, it still saves today. Because there's life in
this gospel. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto
salvation to everybody that believes, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. He said, I preach this gospel.
And though it is a fresh gospel and it's a blessed gospel, in
that sense it's a new gospel, it's the gospel of something
that took place for us 2,000 years ago. Go back to John chapter 17. Look how the Savior refers to
it. This word of reconciliation. John chapter 17. He says in John 17.1, these words
speak Jesus. And this is his high priestly
prayer. This is the Lord's prayer. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy
son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. Now, stop right there. There are those, and maybe you're
one of them, who believe that the work that he finished, that
he is making reference to, is establishing righteousness. And
I'll tell you a general belief. And I was taught this, perhaps
you were taught this as well. Here's the general belief, even
in sovereign grace circles. And I know this is being preached
today, because I've heard it. That what he is making reference
to is, I finished the work of righteousness, I finished establishing
righteousness by my life. And then, when they get over
to John 19, and he says, it is finished, then he's saying, I
have finished the work of removing the guilt and the sin of my people. Now, I don't have a problem with
that part of it. I just have a problem with this
part of it. Now, and I don't wanna upset anybody. But as I studied the Scriptures,
I do not find, I do not find that our Lord Jesus established
righteousness by His life. Though His life of obedience
was absolutely necessary, that is not how He established righteousness. I believe in the necessity of
His obedience, but it's His obedience all the way unto death. And let
me give you two references on this. First of all, go to Daniel
chapter nine. Go to Daniel chapter nine. And I know that this has been
preached and is being preached this way because I had somebody
visit with me several years ago, a preacher, when I was in Michigan,
and this is exactly what he preached. Christ established righteousness
by his death, forgiveness by, excuse me, righteousness by his
life, and forgiveness by his death. I said, well, you know,
I don't want to cause an uproar here, but I don't think you got
that right. I don't think you got that right.
I believe it's his obedience up to and including his death,
his death, his death. That's how righteousness was
brought in. Now see if you don't agree with
me. Here we are in Daniel chapter nine, you got it? Now look at
verse 24. All right, 70 weeks they're determined upon thy people,
upon thy holy city, 490 years, to finish the transgression. Just stop right there. What did
it take to finish the transgression? Finish means to shut them up,
bag them all up, take them away. What did it take to do that?
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You with me? That's right, isn't
it, Bill? Isn't that right? All you men here and ladies as
well, that's right, isn't it? All right, watch this. All right,
here's the second thing. And to make an end, To make an
end of sin, that means consume them. Just totally consume our
sin to destroy them completely. What did it take to make an end
of sin? The death of the Lord Jesus.
That's right, isn't it, Ron? The death of the Lord Jesus.
All right, let's go a little bit further. And to make reconciliation,
oh, that's what we're talking about tonight. and to make reconciliation
for iniquity. What did it take to do that?
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to bring in everlasting righteousness. Oh, so we're not gonna talk about
his death now, we're gonna go back to his life? That'd be very
poor interpretation of scripture. What's the subject? The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. How did he bring in everlasting
righteousness? He died. He died. That's how he established righteousness. That's how he just, what to make
righteous is to justify. How did he justify us? By living
for us? Let me tell you something. I
love the life of Christ and his life was impeccable. But if,
and this is impossible, this scenario, but if he had lived
that perfect life, and then before he went to the cross, went back
to heaven, let me ask you this, would anybody be redeemed? Would anybody be saved? Would
anybody be reconciled? Would anybody be made righteous?
And the answer is no. No. The emphasis in all of the
word of God is his death. Reconciliation by his blood. That's the emphasis in scripture.
I'll give you another illustration for maybe somebody disagrees
with me. You're welcome to disagree with
me on this, but here's another illustration. Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve. There they stood
in fig leaf garments, fig leaf aprons. Well, that's not gonna
do. And we would all agree that those
aprons were pictures of righteousness. And that didn't cover their nakedness
because those fig leaves, they're gonna wither and fall away. So God had to robe them. Like
he robes us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Well, I got
a question for you. Were they robed before the animals
died or after the animals died? If they were robed before the
animals died, then lambs would be kicking them to death. Or
whatever they were. No, God killed them. God killed
them. Then they were robed. I tell
you how righteousness was brought in by the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll give you another reference.
Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. And I know that there are those who disagree.
with me, preachers who would disagree with me. But I really
don't think they got a leg to stand on. Not in light of Scripture. I'll tell you something that
we've all got to be careful about. We've got to be careful about
being holly parrots. Just repeating what somebody
else said without even thinking it through. A preacher says it. Somebody you respect says something
about the Bible, something about the gospel. And because he said
it, man, as far as you're concerned, hey, that's Bible to me. If he
said it, he can't be wrong. Let me tell you something. Every
man that stands behind the pulpit is still a sinful man. And he's
prone to error. And there never has been any
man this man included who's got a grasp on all the truth. There's
only been one man who was full of grace and truth. That's Christ
Jesus. And every other man, you better
do for that man like the Bereans did to Paul. They searched the
scriptures daily to see if these things are so. Don't you ever
believe something because some preacher you highly respect said
it. That is not a basis for believing
anything. You go to the scriptures. You
search the scriptures and see if these things are so. Now look
here in our text. I give you this and I'll quit.
All right, now look at verse 20. 18 and 19, 2 Corinthians 5. Now
look at verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ. Boy, what an honor. Be his ambassador. As though God did beseech you
by us. And we do that. As though God
did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Four, verse 21. He hath made
him to be sin for us. That one who knew no sin. We're
talking about the impeccability of Jesus Christ right now. He
was without spot and without blemish before he died. He in
his person was without spot and without blemish when he died. and he was without spot and without
blemish after he died, right? He had to be the perfect lamb.
He could not be defiled. He could not be. God made him,
God made him sin. Old John Calvin says, God made
him be the sin offering for us. He made that one who knew no
sin to be sin for us, Now, what is he talking about there? Isn't
he talking about that past action that happened at the cross? That's
what he's talking about, isn't that what he's talking about,
right? Watch it. That we might be made, what? The righteousness of God
in him, in him. This book always keeps before
us the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, there are preachers
today, they'll talk about Jesus, what a beautiful example he was. Well, he is a wonderful example,
there's no question about that. But that's not the gospel. Oh, preacher, he says a lot of
good things about Jesus, how we ought to live for Jesus, and
we ought to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. What? Follow in the
footsteps of Jesus. I agree with that. Follow him. He sits before us a perfect example,
but that is not the gospel. Oh, Jesus lived a beautiful life,
a perfect life. He helped others. Indeed He did. And so we ought to help others.
We ought to be kind and compassionate. I just finished writing another
Sun School lesson, The Compassionate Savior. He's full of compassion
to the sick, but being compassionate to people, that's not the gospel.
That's not the gospel. The gospel is His death. His
bloody sacrifice on the cross to satisfy a holy God so that
God could be just and justify the ungodly, that's the good
news of the gospel. That's something that took place
2,000 years ago. And this is the word of reconciliation. Something that happened by somebody
2,000 years ago. and it's a present reality to
us. And I'll tell you what, that
death that he died so many years ago, it is still full of power. It is still, it's still life-giving. And by that death, he took our
sins away and he established righteousness for us. We justified
by his blood, that's what the scripture says.